Facebook has become a social network where you can find all kinds of information about people. Today’s recruiters will ‘Google’ a candidate or visit their Facebook profile to find out public knowledge about the person they want to hire and see if they are a good fit for the company. This means that you want to take into account what you or your friends post about you!

Personal details

Everyone on Facebook has a personal profile page. To register, you must provide some basic personal information such as your full name, email address, date of birth, and gender. This information is so that you can start using your account.

Once you’ve started, you may want to customize your privacy settings to ensure that you only share the type of information with the world that you are comfortable with. To do so, go to ‘Account’ and select ‘Privacy Settings’ from the drop-down menu. You will find a link to customize your settings.

Suggestion: To protect yourself from strangers, it is a good idea to hide any private information like your address and phone number or make it visible only to your friends.

Status update

Through your status update, you share your thoughts with other Facebook users, who could potentially share with your friends, etc. Ask yourself: What am I comfortable sharing? Is it okay if this statement is on a public notice board?

Suggestion: Be careful when sharing information, such as when you go on vacation, as your home could become a target for burglars.

Photos

You can upload your own photos or others can tag you in their uploaded photos of you.

Suggestions: If you want to create a serious profile for yourself, refrain from uploading photos of your last night with scant outfits and a bottle of alcohol in your hands. Also, change your privacy settings so that only you can see the images that others have uploaded and tagged.

In general, you should be vigilant and always remember that what you share or upload to Facebook becomes public knowledge and your friends can share it with other people. Ask yourself if you’d agree to have what you’re sharing displayed on a public bulletin board where you live where anyone can see it. If it passes this test then it should be safe.